Landscape Management, November 2014
may be viewed as a downside It depends how you look at it he says Its nice to plan ahead but you also have to realize when youre committed to a program it doesnt allow you to make some of those tailored changes You also have to be good at forecasting quantities ahead of time based on historic sales Thats not always easy to do Storage also is a concern adds Johns If the manufacturer requires you to accept the full amount of pre purchased product it can take up valuable storage space Plus companies need to factor in potential hazards One of our core values here is safety so having guys working around product thats just sitting in storage is an issue Johns says Being exposed to chemicals or even just having it block walkways while in storage are two issues we worry about In some situations the storage downside can be resolved Bowman has worked out an arrangement with his vendor where he participates in the early order program but the vendor delivers him product as needed Otherwise storage would be an issue not only because of space but because of theft When you have a lot of product sitting around it increases your chance of theft Bowman says We simply cant have product disappearing Concerns like this have been enough for some frms to opt out of early order programs John Prusa president of Highpoint Lawn Service with six locations in Ohio and New York says early order programs made sense to him as a smaller company since it allowed him to obtain better pricing and develop relationships with vendors But as the company grew the downsides began to tip the balance top reasons for participating asked only of those who participate 1 To lock in current prices 2 To take advantage of early pay discounts 3 To earn extended payment terms 4 To earn rebates 5 To secure inventory early of annual chemical fertilizer purchases procured through early order programs asked only of those who participate 7 25 More than 75 51 75 26 50 methodology 57 11 Less than 25 LM fielded an online survey in September 2014 to subscribers who indicate they purchase pesticide fertilizer products or perform fertilization disease weed insect control We assume 5 percent margin of error based on the audience size and the number of complete responses 314 LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET November 2014 EOP6 John Prusa
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